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Climate change across the terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene boundary of the Great Plains is recorded by shifts in sediments, facies, paleosols, and isotopic records, and is interpreted as a shift to overall cooler and drier conditions. As an independent test of paleoenvironmental shifts caused by climatic change, I compared microwear on M2 molars of Leptomeryx from the White River Group (WR) at Toadstool Park, Nebraska (n = 9) and Flagstaff Rim, Wyoming (n = 11). Comparisons of microwear were made through time at each section. Various measurements of microwear were quantified on original, uncoated specimens using environmental scanning electron microscopy and Microware 4.0 software, and evaluated with ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests. Values of the scratch:pit ratio, scratch number, feature major:minor axis ratio, feature vector length, major axis standard deviation, major:minor axis standard deviation, and feature orientation standard deviation for Leptomeryx M2 molars are significantly different (p<0.05) between Wyoming and Nebraska. Microwear patterns suggest paleoecological differences between the two locations, possibly related to differences in Leptomeryx diet or in amount or character of sediment adhering to ingested vegetation. Little fossil evidence of vegetation type is preserved at either locality, other than clay-filled root traces or occasional rhizoliths or silicified fragments. However, sediments of the WR are a mixture of volcaniclastic enriched mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone, with generally coarser overall particle sizes in Wyoming that reflect proximity to siliciclastic sources. The degree of overall volcaniclastic enrichment and number of airfall tuffs is also higher at Flagstaff Rim. Paleosols suggest a shift from closed canopy forest to progressively open conditions at each locality and, although microwear differences could result from differences in vegetation or particle sizes of adhered sediments on plants, no or very low correlations between microwear features and stratigraphic level were detected at either locality, indicating that any changes in paleoecology over time did not significantly alter the diets of Leptomeryx, although diet may have been geographically different. / Geology

No / Dietary ecology is one key to understanding the biology, lifeways, and evolutionary pathways of many animals. Determining the diets of long-extinct hominins, however, is a considerable challenge. Although archaeological evidence forms a pillar of our understand-ing of diet and subsistence in the more recent past, for early hominins, the most direct evidence is to be found inthe fossils themselves. Here we review the suite of emerging biochemical paleodietary tools based on stable isotopeand trace element archives within fossil calcified tissues.We critically assess their contribution to advancing our understanding of australopith, early Homo, and Neander-thal diets within the broader context of non-biogeochemical techniques for dietary reconstruction, such as mor-phology and dental microwear analysis. The most signifi-cant outcomes to date are the demonstration of hightrophic-level diets among Neanderthals and Late Pleistocene modern humans in Glacial Europe, and the persis-tent inclusion of C4 grass-related foods in the diets of Plio¿Pleistocene hominins in South Africa. Such studies clearly show the promise of biogeochemical techniques for testing hypotheses about the diets of early hominins.Nevertheless, we argue that more contextual data from modern ecosystem and experimental studies are needed if we are to fully realize their potential.

Yes / Microwear analysis is applied to reconstruct the function and social organisation at the Late Glacial site of Trollesgave, Denmark. As with Bromme Culture sites in general, the lithic assemblage consists of primarily three types of tools. There is a strong association between these types and their use: end scrapers for dry hide scraping; burins for working hard material, primarily bone; and tanged points primarily for projectile tips. Nearly all divergence from this pattern can be referred to as the activities of children, the products and workshops of which have previously been identified. Based on the combined information from microwear analysis, flint knapping and spatial distribution of artefacts, the assemblage is inferred as the traces of a single family hunting (and fishing) occupation. / Danish Council for Independent Research (FKK ref. no. 273-08-0424)

Yes / A key goal for archaeozoology is to define and characterise pastoral farming strategies. In the last decade, some of the most innovative approaches for addressing these questions have centered on the mammalian dentition, including inter alia sequential sampling of stable isotopes, dental microwear analysis and the study of dental pathologies. It is when these techniques are integrated and combined with more traditional approaches, such as tooth eruption and wear, however, that their full potential is realised. In this article we demonstrate how such an integrated dental analysis combining isotopes, microwear, dental development, dental pathologies, tooth eruption and wear can be used to elucidate changing pastoral practices and their impacts on the landscape from the Iron Age and Viking-Late Norse periods in the North Atlantic islands, a period of significant socio-economic and cultural change in this region. Analysis focuses on two case study sites, Mine Howe, dating to the Atlantic Middle Iron Age (MIA) and the Earls’ Bu, one of the residences of the Orkney Earl’s from the 10th to 13/14th centuries AD. Each of the techniques applied to the sheep/goat and cattle dentition identifies clear differences between the two sites, in diet, in culling season, herd health and stress levels, all of which point to potential differences in underlying husbandry practices. These are related to wider socio-economic developments in Orkney at these periods, specifically increasing control of pastoral resources and economic production by North Atlantic elites in the MIA and the emergence of manorial estates in Late Norse/Early Medieval Scandinavia. / AHRC PhD studentships; British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (2014-5)

Le régime alimentaire est un élément clé de l’écologie des espèces et dépend à la fois des besoins nutritionnels des individus et des ressources alimentaires disponibles. Ainsi, les stratégies alimentaires peuvent varier en fonction de l’âge, du sexe ou de l’état physiologique des individus, mais également de paramètres environnementaux et, en particulier, de la saisonnalité. Reconstruire le régime alimentaire d’espèces cryptiques ou difficiles à observer en milieu naturel nécessite l’emploi de marqueurs capables de détecter les variations du régime alimentaire sur le court terme. L’analyse des patrons de micro-usures dentaires et des ratios d’isotopes stables du carbone et de l’azote constitue une approche pertinente pour distinguer le régime alimentaire entre différentes espèces ou entre populations. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous avons évalué le pouvoir prédictif de ces deux types de marqueurs sur les variations saisonnières et interindividuelles du régime alimentaire dans une population naturelle de mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) sur laquelle des données comportementales étaient disponibles. Conformément aux comportements alimentaires observés, les patrons de micro-usures dentaires et les signatures isotopiques varient en fonction de la saison, de l’âge et du sexe des individus. L’ensemble de nos résultats nous indique que la diversité importante d’aliments consommés à faible fréquence par les mandrills ne peut être détectée par les marqueurs analysés qui semblent être, en revanche, pertinents pour identifier des changements significatifs de consommation d’aliments majoritaires tels que les fruits et les feuilles. Enfin, les signatures isotopiques varient en fonction du cycle reproducteur des femelles et de leur rang de dominance, nous indiquant que l’utilisation de tels marqueurs peut permettre la mise en évidence d’aspects de la physiologie des individus non reportés par des observations comportementales. Les résultats présentés dans cette thèse apportent des données de référence essentielles pour la reconstruction du régime alimentaire d’espèces éteintes partageant des traits communs avec le mandrill, telles que des primates généralistes de forêts tropicales. / Diet is a critical factor of species’ ecology and depends on both individuals’ nutritional needs and availability of their food resources. As such, feeding strategies may vary with age, sex or physiological condition of the individuals but also depend on environmental factors and, in particular, seasonality. In cryptic species and those that are difficult to observe in their natural habitat, diet reconstruction requires the use of proxies with the ability to detect dietary variations over the short term. Analyses of dental microwear patterns along with carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes constitute a relevant approach to discriminate between diets of different species or populations. In the framework of this thesis, we assessed the predictive power of these two proxies on seasonal and inter-individual variations of diet in a natural population of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) for which behavioural data was available. According to the feeding behaviours observed, dental microwear patterns and isotopic signatures vary depending on the season as well as individual’s age and sex. Taken together our results indicate that the large diversity of rarely consumed food items cannot be detected by the proxies analysed, which are however, relevant to identify significant changes in the consumption of major foods such as fruits and leaves. Finally, isotopic signatures vary across females’ reproductive statuses and dominance ranks, indicating that the use of those proxies may allow the highlighting of some aspects of individuals’ physiology not detected by behavioural observations. The results presented in this thesis provide a baseline data essential for dietary reconstruction of extinct species sharing similar traits with mandrills, such as generalist primates from tropical forests.

For a long time, research of bone industry in archeology was disorganized and mostly limited for classification according to the tools' shape, from which the function was deduced. This method was frequently imprecise and complicated for bone artifacts as well as for chipped stone artifacts. In the last few decades, scientists have tried to apply to the bone industry microwear analysis, which was then successfully applied to the chipped industry. Microwear analysis can help us recognize usewear traces and give information about the manufacturing and functioning of the tools. Using microscopes can prove which artifacts were manufactured by humans and which were simply broken in order to get marrow, and which were bitten by predators. The goal of this research is to expose the functions of tools and artifacts, which are previously unclear, by use of experimental archeology and use-wear analysis, primarily for artefacts known as bone skates (or bone ice skates), which are classified only according to their shape (and often incorrectly). In many foreign countries, the method and application of microwear analysis is increasingly popular. However, in the Czech Republic, it is largely overlooked. Therefore, we would like to extend the sample of possible contact materials and contribute to the progress of...

Dental microwear texture (DMT) analysis is used to differentiate abrasive dental wear patterns in many species fed different diets. Because DMT parameters all describe the same surface, they are expected to correlate with each other distinctively. Here, we explore the data range of, and correlations between, DMT parameters to increase the understanding of how this group of proxies records wear within and across species. The analysis was based on subsets of previously published DMT analyses in guinea pigs, sheep, and rabbits fed either a natural whole plant diet (lucerne, grass, bamboo) or pelleted diets with or without added quartz abrasives (guinea pigs and rabbits: up to 45 days, sheep: 17 months). The normalized DMT parameter range (P4: 0.69 0.25; M2: 0.83 0.16) and correlation coefficients (P4: 0.50 0.31; M2: 0.63 0.31) increased along the tooth row in guinea pigs, suggesting that strong correlations may be partially explained by data range. A comparison between sheep and guinea pigs revealed a higher DMT data range in sheep (0.93 0.16; guinea pigs: 0.47 0.29), but this did not translate into more substantial correlation coefficients (sheep: 0.35 0.28; guinea pigs: 0.55 0.32). Adding rabbits to an interspecies comparison of low abrasive dental wear (pelleted lucerne diet), the softer enamel of the hypselodont species showed a smaller data range for DMT parameters (guinea pigs 0.49 0.32, rabbit 0.19 0.18, sheep 0.78 0.22) but again slightly higher correlations coefficients compared to the hypsodont teeth (guinea pigs 0.55 0.31, rabbits 0.56 0.30, sheep 0.42 0.27). The findings suggest that the softer enamel of fast-replaced ever-growing hypselodont cheek teeth shows a greater inherent wear trace consistency, whereas the harder enamel of permanent and non-replaced enamel of hypsodont ruminant teeth records less coherent wear patterns. Because consistent diets were used across taxa, this effect cannot be ascribed to the random overwriting of individual wear traces on the more durable hypsodont teeth. This matches literature reports on reduced DMT pattern consistency on harder materials; possibly, individual wear events become more random in nature on harder material. Given the species-specific differences in enamel characteristics, the findings suggest a certain species-specificity of DMT patterns.

Polished-edge discoidal knives are part of the lithic material culture from the British Isles with an approximate Late Neolithic date. These artefacts are manufactured in three basic shapes: circular to D-shaped, triangular, and broad leaf to lozenge (Clark 1929). The aim of this project was to explore the function of polished-edge discoidal knives. To achieve this aim, the following objectives were completed: Objective 1: Develop a broad understanding of the literature surrounding polished-edge discoidal knives; Objective 2: Develop a database containing all the available information regarding the known knives for study in this project and as a tool to help further research and select archaeological samples for study based on type, condition, find location, and current location; Objective 3: Understand how these tools were used; and Objective 4: Review all data and produce a narrative about polished-edge discoidal knives’ function in Late British Neolithic Society. This project has revealed that these knives were possibility used for activities involving birch bark, clay, or other wood types. This research has also produced a database of knives, a modern distribution map, a revised typology, an archaeological date and possible contexts, and an object itinerary.

In mammals, complex dental microwear textures (DMT) representing differently sized and shaped enamel lesions overlaying each other have traditionally been associated with the seeds and kernels in frugivorous diets, as well as with sclerotized insect cuticles. Recently, this notion has been challenged by field observations as well as in vitro experimental data. It remains unclear to what extent each food item contributes to the complexity level and is reflected by the surface texture of the respective tooth position along the molar tooth row. To clarify the potential of seeds and other abrasive dietary items to cause complex microwear textures, we conducted a controlled feeding experiment with rats. Six individual rats each received either a vegetable mix, a fruit mix, a seed mix, whole crickets, whole black soldier fly larvae, or whole day-old-chicks. These diets were subjected to material testing to obtain mechanical properties, such as Young’s modulus, yield strength, and food hardness (as indicated by texture profile analysis [TPA] tests). Seeds and crickets caused the highest surface complexity. The fruit mix, seed mix, and crickets caused the deepest wear features. Moreover, several diets resulted in an increasing wear gradient from the first to the second molar, suggesting that increasing bite force along the tooth row affects dental wear in rats on these diets. Mechanical properties of the diets showed different correlations with DMT obtained for the first and second molars. The first molar wear was mostly correlated with maximum TPA hardness, while the second molar wear was strongly correlated with maximum yield stress, mean TPA hardness, and maximum TPA hardness. This indicates a complex relationship between chewing mechanics, food mechanical properties, and observed DMT. Our results show that, in rats, seeds are the main cause of complex microwear textures but that hard insect body parts can also cause high complexity. However, the similarity in parameter values of surface textures resulting from seed and cricket consumption did not allow differentiation between these two diets in our experimental approach.